Ok folks, you may realize that this is the middle of the summer outdoor season and you may be wondering - "what has this guy done in the past few months/years to make him think he ahs any chance of making it big in the coming months/years?" Well here goes a brief recap of this year. I'll summerize the major events starting with the indoor season with Queen's.
Indoor season - This started in January with a race down in Windsor. Unfortunately, I had been practicing my "Usain" stride (ie. changing my form on the home stretch trying to run like a sprinter, when I actually am not) in practice in the days leading up to the race and had stressed my hamstring. Consequently I pulled it on my first stride before my race. What a great way to start the season; I was none too pleased. However, it healed rather well and in 3 days I was back running. Fast forward over a few weeks of training and racing, nothing of which had been incredibly spectacular but just solid work, to the end of Febuary and the Ontario University championships (OUA's) at York University. I placed 2nd in the 1000m to Delmonte of UofT (making him run a meet record to do it), 2nd as part of the 4x800m team - 0.2 seconds behind Windsor, and won the 1500m, beating Boorsma of Guelph with a kick. On to the Canadian University national championships (CIS) a few weeks later where I won the 1000m (beating Delmonte with a kick) and placing 2nd in the 1500m (behind Boorsma). Both of these races can be found on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBtj5AUPPIg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19dx-C_qEEM I would like to be able to post these directly to my blog wall, but am unsure of how.
And now onto the real deal! Taking a meager 4 days off after CIS, I started again training to get ready for the outdoor season. I put in a few weeks of training (including a personal record setting week of 62.5 miles!) before the Jesse Owens Classic at Ohio State University at the end of April. I went down there expecting to be thrashed but ended up running a 4 second pb of 3:45.75 for 2nd place. Check it out at http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=25404, watch the fellow in yellow chilling out at the back of the pack for most of the race then suddenly remembers to start racing at 200m to go.
A few weeks later, in early June, I hit up the 401 Track Series...a series of 3 races over the span of a week. It included a 1500m in Windsor, an 800m in London and a Mile in Guelph. I placed 2nd in the 1500 with 3:44.76 behind Taylor Milne (2008 Olympian and Canada's current middle distance man to beat). I was then 3rd in the 800m with 1:50.86, behind Milne and Kyle Smith (and only 0.01 off my coach's 800m pb!). Finally, I placed 2nd in the Mile, running 4:03.45, again behind Milne. I was going for the sub-4....but it wasn't to be - this time anyway!
You can find videoes to those races at:
800m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kk5bZTjAXo
Mile: http://www.guelphrunning.ca/news.php?id=329
So, there you have it! That's a short and sweet breakdown of the past few months. I have been racing nicely and have been improving steadily. Lots of my improvement was due to a solid XC season in the fall, but that's a story for another day. A lot of work and many miles have gone into this....big thanks especially to Kevin Dunbar, my coach, and summer training partners: James, Anders and Trevor. Also thanks to the boys in Windsor who let me crash at their place and learn their secrets for a few days during the 401 Series. And let's not forget my family too for their constant support. BUT, we ain't done yet folks...we're just halfway!
Halfway you say? Whatever is next? Well, I'm off to BC in a few weeks for the PacifiCanada Series, which is another series of races (this time 4) in a span of a week. I will hit up a 1500m at the Harry Jerome Classic in Burnaby, a 1500m at the Victoria International Track Classic in Victoria (obvy!), and an 800m at the Kajaks International in Richmond. Info can be found at http://www.pacificanada.ca/?p=110.
After that will be the Canadian National Track and Field Champs in Toronto from July 28-31st where I intend peak and rip of a top notch performance. Following that will be the Athletics Ontario Provincial Champs in Sudbury on August 14-15.
And there you have it! That is where I have come from and where I am going this summer. NOW YOU KNOW!!
Stay Classy. Be Easy.
Matt
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